


Falling Together

by camnoelgallavich



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Falling In Love, Flashback, Fluff, Gallavich, Love, M/M, Post-Season/Series 10 Finale, Season 2, Shameless, Young Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:53:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23831923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camnoelgallavich/pseuds/camnoelgallavich
Summary: This one shot is for the Shameless Writing Challenge!The first prompt for the challenge had several options, including writing a flashback.  At my bffs' suggestion, I wrote a scene from season 2 episode 4 when Ian snuck out of the house during Debbie's sleepover.I hope you guys enjoy all of the fluff! :)Love,@cam.monaghanfan (insta) & @cam_monaghanfan (twitter)
Relationships: Ian Gallagher & Mickey Milkovich, Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich
Comments: 15
Kudos: 121





	Falling Together

Mickey’s job as a mechanic was a lot less time intensive than Ian’s so he often had time to himself at the Gallagher house. He spent that time working out and finding new things to pretend to be grumpy about when Ian got home. 

His most recent complaint (which was an actual grievance this time) was about the remodeling. After their wedding, they’d both moved into Ian’s room upstairs, but that was proving to be a space that completely lacked privacy. Before Mickey had the opportunity to do bodily harm to the next person that walked in on them, they had endeavored to fix up the basement for themselves. There was more than enough room to make it into a little studio, with a seating area, space for a bed, and a full bathroom. All they had to do was clean it out and then convert it into a livable space for a couple years, until they earned enough money to move out into a nicer part of town. It had taken a lot of convincing on Ian’s part and now Mickey knew why. That fucker was at work all the time and Mickey was left playing fucking Bob the Builder at home. 

When they’d first come up with the idea, the basement was a mess, the walls had never been finished and neither had the bathroom, which looked like a construction site with only pipes where the fixtures needed to be put in. Now, Mickey was thankful this mess was almost over. He’d gotten a plumber to finish the bathroom and then Mickey learned how to fucking install tile for Ian’s bougie ass. Cleaning out all the mold and bugs had been a nightmare, but the 

They’d bought second hand chairs and a sofa for the seating area and Ian had promised to invest in a TV on black friday this year. They’d also gotten second-hand bedroom furniture, so that they could save money. Mickey had planned on at least buying a new mattress, thinking about how many times Frank’s bodily fluids had been expelled on their current mattress made his skin crawl. 

Mickey had spent the day assembling the last of the furniture with Carl, after kidnapping him from the kitchen with a bribe of pizza for dinner. They quickly finished putting together the bedframe and used Ikea closet before they moved Mickey’s new box spring and mattress from the living room to the basement. Putting sheets on a bed was Mickey’s personal form of torture, but with some help, they were able to finish setting up the room. After all of his hard work, Mickey had been too lazy to order the pizza himself so he sent Carl to go get it with enough cash for two pies so Ian could have some for dinner when he got home.

Mickey looked around the finished room, feeling proud of himself for his accomplishment. He wouldn’t take all the credit of course, because Ian had helped paint the room and find furniture, but for once Mickey was in awe of his own ability to create. He fell in love with drawing and sketching again on this last stint in prison, mainly because his muse was constantly 6 feet away from him (which wasn’t always a blessing, but it made his art even better). Those drawings only scratched the surface of what his artistic eye could see. His creative side never had a chance to flourish like this and he was genuinely happy with the way that he’d undertaken this project from start to finish with his husband. 

Grunting in exhaustion, Mickey took his shirt off, feeling it stick to his skin because he was hot and sweaty. He then flopped face-first onto the freshly made bed and spread out like a starfish - because old habits die hard - and there currently wasn’t a gigantic ginger fuck invading his space. Mickey smiled at that thought, yawning and rolling onto the other side of the bed. He had already decided that he got to pick which side was his before Ian, like a finder’s fee of sorts, so he’d earned the right to roll around. 

Mickey made himself comfortable on the right side of the bed and then cuddled a pillow to his chest, thinking about how over the top Ian’s reaction to all of this will be. He looked around the room with a proud smile, already knowing that Ian -the mushy and emotional man that he married - would be over the moon and so excited to have in their own space, after so many years. He’d crack a joke about having a sleepover in their new place together and then run around turning on all the lights, sitting on every piece of furniture, and then spend hours complimenting all of Mickey's hard work before tackling Mickey onto the bed and showing him how much he loved their new room. That thought makes Mickey chuckle, shaking his head at Ian’s predictable sentimentality. 

As he laid there, picking at a thread on the pillow, Mickey started to reminisce. It wasn’t something that he did often, given some very painful childhood memories that he’d rather forget. But as of late, whenever he took a moment to think about how their relationship was evolving, he couldn’t help but think of their teenage years. Here he was, married to Ian and laying in their bed that they’d share for years to come and his mind traveled back to the first night they slept in the same bed together. That night owned a special spot in Mickey’s heart, and that would never change. 

~~~~~~~~~~

It was 1:30a.m. on a Saturday night when Mickey heard an urgent knock on his bedroom window. 

He had been laying in bed, drinking beer and flipping open and shut his butterfly knife, seeing which grip he liked the best. Playing with a sharp weapon when he was slightly inebriated was his version of a fun game since he was bored out of his mind. 

Mickey hated going out in the Chicago heat if he didn’t have to, so he’d spent the day being bored at home alone. Once he’d figured out that he had the place to himself for the night, he’d texted Ian a vague message asking what he was doing. Unfortunately, Ian replied that he was chaperoning Debbie’s sleepover and then sent him a picture of Mandy stuffing her face with popcorn and flipping the camera off. He’d tossed his phone somewhere in his bedroom after seeing that picture, grumpily going to the kitchen to make himself some popcorn. He’d repeated in his head over and over for the last hour - he wasn’t jealous. When it came to Ian, Mickey often had to try to convince himself that he wasn't the jealous type. If that was true, then he wouldn’t be jealous that his sister was over at the Gallagher house without him. There isn’t any plausible excuse for him to be there anyway. No one knew that he and Ian were friends - well, friends with benefits, Mickey corrected himself about that a few times too. He liked Ian a lot more than he was willing to admit, but he was intentionally keeping Ian at an arm's length. He was glad they’d started to hang out without Mandy now that they were fooling around, but he couldn’t risk catching feelings. 

He heard the noise at his window again and got out of bed, slowly creeping to the window. Maybe he was just hearing things. He glanced around the room, seeing his bedroom door was still locked. He picks up the baseball bat on the floor, wanting some kind of weapon in his hand. He’d started locking it at night whenever he could get away with it and if anyone had to use the bathroom then they were shit outta luck. 

The third knock was more urgent and Mickey bucked up the courage to lift apart the blinds at his eye level to figure out what was making that noise. He jumped back with a yelp when he saw an emerald green eye flanked by dark red lashes staring right back at him. He shook his head at himself for getting scared, and dropped the bat back onto the floor. “What are you doing here?” Mickey grumbled as he crossed his arms over his chest, staring at the blinds that were still down. 

“Open the window!” Came Ian’s muffled voice from the other side. 

Mickey rolled his eyes but for some reason he did it anyway, raising the blinds and then lifting up the bottom of the window when Ian motioned to it. He blocked Ian’s way into his room and leaned out a little to see Ian was standing on a stepstool. 

Ian smiled sheepishly, “I found it in the junk out front. Let me in before someone sees me!” He whispered to Mickey, pressing his hands on Mickey’s forearm and shoulder before pushing him inside gently. He was worried about Terry hearing noise outside and coming out to see Ian sneaking into his house. Once Mickey moved out of the way, Ian climbed inside, one long limb at a time until he was standing and facing Mickey with a goofy smile on his lips. It was clear on Ian’s face how happy he was to see Mickey. 

“Thought you had to watch the kids or some shit.” Mickey said as he sat on the edge of his bed, pushing the sheets around for his packet of cigs to distract himself from Ian’s stupidly cute freckled face. He found the box and was in the process of lighting a cigarette, when he looked up around his hand cupping the flame to see Ian making himself comfortable, taking off his shoes and dropping his backpack on the floor. This fucking boyscout never went anywhere without his backpack and Mickey would tease him to the moon and back about it. He arched his eyebrow at Ian, who had yet to respond with more than a shrug. 

“Lip and Mandy are there and they’re both awake. It’s not like they need me.” Ian replied easily, plopping his body down on Mickey’s right, sitting closer to the pillow on Mickey’s bed. “Figured I’d come chill here if you were still awake.” He held his hand out for the cigarette, not stealing it from between Mickey’s lips which was his new M.O. as of late. 

Mickey blew smoke out of his mouth in Ian’s direction but passed the cig over anyway. “Alright, I guess.” He wasn’t too inclined to come up with an excuse for why Ian shouldn’t be here. They had complete privacy for once, so Mickey decided to let himself enjoy it. He laid back to where he’d been laying before Ian got here, but he pressed himself closer to the wall, leaving more than enough room for Ian even though he wasn’t going to say that. Mickey raked his eyes over Ian’s back as the boy took a drag, watching his shoulders relax. 

Ian looked over his shoulder and he caught Mickey looking at him, making him smirk as he passed the cigarette back. He adjusted himself to be sitting with one leg hanging off the bed and the other folded in front of him, with his knee barely touching Mickey’s arm. “What were you doing before I got here?” Ian asked as he reached up to grab the beer can on the bedside table, grinning triumphantly because it was still half full. He brought it to his lips and took a big gulp as he felt Mickey backhand his thigh. 

“Drinking that and enjoying some peace and quiet.” Mickey said, knowing he didn’t mind Ian being here one bit. 

“Aye, watch it or I’ll spill this on you!” Ian laughed, wiping his mouth with the back of his free hand and chuckling as he held the can out above Mickey’s chest, playfully threatening to pour it onto Mickey’s tank top covered chest. 

Mickey rolled his eyes and sat up a little to take it out of Ian’s hand, passing the cigarette back to Ian without a thought. It just felt natural to share one now. He watched Ian take another drag and exhale smoke as he looked around Mickey’s room at all of his posters and some things he’d drawn. 

“I didn’t know you like to draw.” Ian commented, pointing at one paper in particular that hung right over Mickey’s hip. It was a white sheet of printer paper on which Mickey had drawn boobs and a penis, because of course he did. Ian chuckled a little as Mickey’s face started to get flushed. He moved closer as he looked at some of the other doodles on the page. He reached out a finger to retrace something that Mickey had drawn and then scratched out, tilting his head curiously and then looking down at Mickey. “What was it?” 

“Uh, I was just trying something out. Didn’t like it.” Mickey answered shyly. He wasn’t going to tell Ian that he’d been learning how to draw people so that he could sketch his crush. 

Ian rolled his eyes at Mickey trying to evade the question. “I’m sure it wasn’t that bad.” He prompted. 

“Um, I was trying to draw a person but that one was really ugly so I scratched it out.” He said as he sat up and reached through the small space between his bed and the wall, pulling up a worn sketch book from its hidden spot under his bed. “You tell anyone about this and I’ll beat the shit outta you.” He threatened Ian, fixing him with a glare.

Ian saw what Mickey was holding and excitedly moved to sit right next to Mickey against the headboard. He loved learning new things about Mickey, when the boy finally put his machismo attitude away and let his guard down around Ian in private. “I won’t tell anybody, Mick.” He reassured Mickey. 

“Mandy got me this for my birthday because I drewhersomethingforchristmas.” Mickey mumbled the end of his sentence under his breath because he realized how cheesy it was. He took a breath and then opened the sketchbook, flipping through the pages pretty quickly until he landed on one he liked. He tilted it towards Ian, showing him a sketch he’d drawn from his secret hideout at the top of the abandoned buildings. It spanned two pages and was full of shading and other complex things that Ian didn’t understand but it was amazing nonetheless. Mickey had drawn the Chicago skyline from his point of view, and it looked so crisp with clean lines that it could be a picture. 

“Mick! That’s amazing!” Ian whispered in awe of his talent. Those doodles on the wall had nothing on this drawing. He leaned in closer to Mickey to look at the detail on each of the buildings Mickey had drawn. 

Mickey’s breath caught in his throat from Ian’s proximity to him and the genuine compliment. He smiled a bit as Ian took the book out of his hand, wanting to get a better look at each section of the drawing and complimenting different aspects of the image. 

Ian looked up at Mickey with a huge smile. “You have to color this in! And then enter it into a competition at school or something, Mick! You could win awards for something this good.” 

Mickey shook his head and took the book back, shutting it quickly and putting it back where he’d gotten it. “Yeah right. I’m definitely not showing that to anyone ever again.” He genuinely loved the happy look on Ian’s face, but the idea of showing this to anyone else felt weird to Mickey. 

Ian groaned and sunk down onto the pillow under him, laying on his back as he looked up at Mickey. “You could win prize money and shit. Sell art for a living, I don’t know.” Ian threw out ideas, like he often did with Lip. 

“Delusional.” Mickey mumbled with another roll of his eyes and he picked up the abandoned cigarette on the ashtray, taking one last drag and then stamping it out as Ian went back to looking at Mickey’s wall. 

This time, Ian was looking for aspects of Mickey on each poster. Looking at all of his doodles in sharpie on the band posters and then onto the white sheets of printer paper with Mickey’s own drawings on them. He felt Mickey lay down next to him as his eyes fell upon two words.

‘FUCK LOVE’ was written in bold scratches of a pencil and it had been retraced so many times that it just looked like chicken scratch. Ian didn’t comment on it, but his eyes softened as he took in what Mickey wrote. He bit his lip and wondered when Mickey wrote it. Did he write this after realizing he was gay, knowing that he couldn’t come out? Did he write it when he was angry that he had to keep such a big part of himself a secret? Did Mickey feel unloved? Did someone break his heart? Mickey was only 17 and not only was this a deeply profound feeling to have, the fact that Mickey had written it out and put it up on his wall meant it was something he felt strongly. 

Mickey was watching Ian closely as his eyes lingered over it for a beat. Mickey’s heart started to beat in his ears because this moment felt so personal. Not only had he shown Ian a side of him that only his sister knew about, he’d asked Ian to keep another secret for him. Of course these were drawings he’d posted on his wall and anyone who came into his room would see them, but no one ever paid this much attention to them. No one other than Ian had taken the time to ask about them. 

Ian turned his head to look at Mickey after the questions in his mind started to quiet down. He sighs and rolls onto his side to face Mickey, making sure to keep his hands to himself. “I’m glad you showed me this stuff. You’re really talented, Mickey.” He said, looking at Mickey with a mixture of happiness and sadness in his eyes. 

“It’s whatever.” Mickey responded shyly with a little shrug, but that compliment meant the world to him. 

Ian smiled one of those puppy smiles that Mickey always saw and then yawned deeply, feeling a sudden wave of sleepiness come over him. He closed his eyes and snuggled into the pillow underneath his head.

“Um, what are you doing?” Mickey looked at Ian with wide eyes, trying to figure out why Ian looked like he was going to sleep. 

“Having a sleepover.” Ian said matter-of-factly, cracking one eye open, expecting to be pushed off the bed. 

“Oh... okay.” Mickey turned on his side to face Ian too, their eyes at the same level for once. He’d never invited anyone over for a sleepover before and technically he hadn’t invited Ian either, but this felt right. “Can’t sleep with one eye open, jackass.” He pushed Ian’s forehead playfully and then pulled his hand back. 

“Hey! You don't know. Maybe I can!” Ian laughed with his whole body, scooting closer to Mickey unintentionally. He lifted his hips up to pull Mickey’s thin blanket out from under him and he draped it over both of them, not saying a word. 

“You good?” Mickey asked, trying to be sarcastic but it didn’t come off that way.

“Yup… comfy.” Ian knowingly shifted his head onto Mickey’s pillow when Mickey got out of bed to turn his room light off. 

Mickey climbed back over Ian, feeling like he had less space on the bed now but he couldn’t figure out why. “Did you-” He started talking but he closed his mouth quickly when he heard Ian’s soft snore. “Great. He’s already asleep.” He whispered to himself as he got settled under the blanket. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths, ready to drift off to sleep when he felt Ian’s arm drape over his chest. 

He stilled and looked down at Ian, who looked as peaceful as an angel as he slept. Mickey chewed on the inside of his lip as he thought over his options. He could push Ian off - but that would wake him up, or he could let it be. He took another deep breath to steady himself. He was safe with Ian tonight. No one else was home, there was no one pushing him to be someone he wasn’t and he’d already taken so many liberties tonight that he might as well enjoy Ian’s closeness while he could. 

Mickey carefully lifted his arm that was pressed against Ian’s chest and gently slid it under Ian’s head, earning him some mumbles from Ian but he didn't wake. Mickey stayed still, watching Ian use his bicep as a pillow until he heard another snore from Ian. He then relaxed, resting his hand on Ian’s arm that was laying on his chest. “‘Night, Ian.” He whispered softly and closed his eyes, falling asleep soon after. 

~~~~~~~~~~

Now, years later, Mickey smiled as he thought of that night, twirling his wedding ring around his finger. He remembered how peaceful he felt that morning, waking up with his ginger boy in his arms. He remembered the warm feeling in his chest as he watched Ian wake up slowly that morning, not moving away until they were both awake and Ian was blushing.

Mickey couldn’t believe that he was lucky enough to have Ian every day for the rest of his life. 

That night would always have a special place in Mickey’s heart because he knew that night was when he started falling in love with Ian.


End file.
